Hans Raj Hans: BJP's new Dalit face is versatile in music as well as politics

Hans had a tryst with religion in 2006 when he became the head of the Dera Baba Lal Badshah at Nakodar. But he left in 2015 amid controversies.

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Apr 24, 2019, 09.15 PM IST

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Hans had a tryst with religion in 2006 when he became the head of the Dera Baba Lal Badshah at Nakodar. But he left in 2015 amid controversies.

NEW DELHI: Immensely popular Punjabi singer Hans Raj Hans has had a political career as diverse as his music. He can sing pop songs as well as Sufi songs with ease. He has also sung for Bollywood. Though he is essentially a Punjabi politician, he will now fight Lok Sabha polls from Delhi.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Hans from North West Delhi, giving a boot to its sitting MP Udit Raj, who quickly joined the Congress. If he wins the election, he will be one of the BJP's leading Dalit faces. Hans comes from the Valmiki community.

Hans joined the BJP in 2016, after trying his luck in Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), a BJP ally in Punjab, and then the Congress.

Hans had a tryst with religion in 2006 when he became the head of the Dera Baba Lal Badshah at Nakodar. But he left in 2015 amid controversies.

Hans jumped into politics when he joined SAD in 2009. He had already leaned towards the party. The SAD government had bestowed on him the title of ‘Raj Gayak’ (the state singer) in 2001 which had generated a lot of controversy. After that, Hans campaigned for SAD in 2002 assembly election. In the same year he joined SAD, he was fielded from the Jalandhar constituency and he lost. In 2014, he resigned from SAD, miffed with the Badal family that helms the party. He was said to be unhappy for not getting the ticket again.

In 2016, impressed by Capt Amarinder Singh, he joined the Congress. But soon he was not feeling at home in the new party. A month after joining he was called back from a UK trip to file his nominations for the Rajya Sabha but at the last moment, the nomination was given to another Dalit leader.

The same year, Hans left the Congress to join the BJP. He said he was inspired by the work of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the badshah of fakirs and the fakir in me has followed him," Hans said at that time. "When he came to campaign for me in 2009 (Hans was contesting from Jalandhar) he mentioned that I had begged with a bowl to help the people of Gujarat after the 2001 earthquake and raised $2.5 million for the victims. Modi ji had not forgotten my contribution."